HobbyBoss 1/72 German 80cm K(E) Railway Gun 'Dora' (82911) - Demo Build

[Neil Merryweather]

BLIMEY!!!
Respect, sir!

[scottie3158]

Dave,
Excellent work Sir.

[davecov]

Thanks everybody. :thumb2:

That is almost a ridiculous kit :smiling3: Nothing but praise for you for being able to get through all those parts for the bogies and other repetitive bits. Just one question: are you going to add a full crew too?

Thanks Jakko. A Sweeney Box Set got me through the really dull stuff. A Dora unit had a complement of 1,420 troops including a headquarters, headquarters battery, fire control section, intelligence platoon, survey platoon, gun battery construction section, military police unit, two light Flak detachments and the gun crew. The crew immediately attached to the gun numbered 500 men! I am going to have 5 or 6!

Dave,
that's a real monster!!! How are you going to display it, and transport it?
Dave

Hi Dave, the finished article will sit on my living room window sill for a time but it will end up being stored away:

I don't have any plans to transport it anywhere except down the stairs from my den to my living room. I think that will be stressful enough.

Wow, Dave! I thought my 1:72 Leopold (built in my teens) was big but... that's a gun! Probably almost useless in 1:1 scale even in those times :surprised:, but a great piece of engineering... and a great modelling feat for you!

I will follow your build with interest, no matter how long will it take both for the unusual subject and to get the answer to the question you raised in your second post: will 12 tins of paint properly cover all that plastic or a further supply will be needed? :anguished:. Humbrol is hoping for the latter .
Andrea.

I have almost finished the Hobbyboss 1/72 Leopold Railway Gun too although I dropped it and it fell apart and has been consigned to the Shelf of Doom for the time being:

I think 12 tins of paint may be enough but if not then I have no choice but to get more.

BTW, I have already made two HobbyBoss kits to go with my two railway guns:

HobbyBoss 1/72 Morser Karl-Geraet 040/041 Late Version (82905)


HobbyBoss 1/72 German MunitionsSchlepper Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf. D/E (82907)


Dave

[Guest]

A Dora unit had a complement of 1,420 troops

You’d almost start to think that is why I asked

[davecov]

Actually, I hate painting figures and even 5 or 6 may be too many for me to cope with.

Dave

[Gern]

That is almost a ridiculous kit :smiling3: Nothing but praise for you for being able to get through all those parts for the bogies and other repetitive bits. Just one question: are you going to add a full crew too?

That'd be good! I read somewhere that it took around 2500 men to assemble and fire this thing!

Edit: Late again!

[JR]

God the noise it made when firing must have been horrific.
I'm in please, what a size , really shows that when you add the panzer.
Looking fwd to watching this .

[Nicko]

I'm staggered by how much you achieved in a week Dave! That's some going.

I'll enjoy following the rest once you get back to it....

Nick

[BattleshipBob]

Superb, must have taken ages just to locate a part on all those sprues lol

[Guest]

Actually, I hate painting figures and even 5 or 6 may be too many for me to cope with.

Use the quick-shade method: just paint all the bits in their base colour, no highlights or shading, and then add a dark, translucent glaze over the whole figure.

[boatman]

WOW Dave i dint know you made a start on DORA brilliant ive been waiting for this ever since you said you had it in your stash an i will be following along to see this monster come to reality an very well done so far
chris

[adt70hk]

Now that is something else.

Great work so far. Very well done indeed.

ATB.

Andrew

[davecov]

Thanks everybody. :thumb2:

A bit more progress today which might not seem much but has taken many hours.

Twenty walkway supports were cleaned up and glued in place:


Each of these assemblies are made up of more than 30 parts and eventually they will be glued together and attached to each end of the mounts holding them together:


The Power Centre which was home to a diesel generator to provide electrical power for the gun's systems. Cleaning up of the handrails and steps took ages and the whole unit is now ready for painting:


Before I can start on the painting I had to fit two ladders. This was not as easy as it seems especially as the instructions weren't very clear as to the actual location of the top of the ladders. I found a photo online that solved that problem:


I wasn't going to do any filling before the New Year but as I have made faster progress than expected I got the filler out. The two loading ramps shown have to be glued to the loading table decking and the Power Centre will be attached to the cross beams between the loading ramps:


They will end up looking like this when finally glued together:


Gun barrel sections were also filled:


That is all for now

Dave

[Airborne01]

That'll do! Looking forward to this beast!
Steve

[adt70hk]

Oh my......